There may be differences if one vehicle is equipped with lether seats and other is not or something similar, but if both of them are with the same trim level, and the drivers seat is in the maximum back position, then the distance to the rear seat is equal.
There may be, that the more flat windshield in Compass is (or felt to be) closer to the driver's head or something, and therefor driver set his seat further back than in Patriot to feel comfortable. This is subjective, but does not make Compass smaller.
Although in the end the same subjective opinion is the one that matters, when you buy a car

Recently I've googled for Compass 2012 crash test. There wasn't any official testings but the European one. And according to it Compass earned 2.5 stars from five. I don't know if it's true. I've been thinking of buying Compas (I really like GC-like style) but now...

Recently I've googled for Compass 2012 crash test. There wasn't any official testings but the European one. And according to it Compass earned 2.5 stars from five. I don't know if it's true. I've been thinking of buying Compas (I really like GC-like style) but now...

The Patriot is an IIHS "Top Safety Pick", and is built on the same MK platform as the Compass, and (AFAIK) is in the same vehicle class. I would think that the Compass ranking should at least be similar.

__________________
He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. --Thomas Paine

We work together every damn day. --Jon Stewart

Any gas can be a knockout gas, when you wrap a steel cylinder around it and beat someone with it.

It was against these revised parameters that the Jeep struggled, with the Compass scoring just 23 per cent in the pedestrian protection rating - with the car's bumper scoring no points for pedestrian leg protection while the general pedestrian rating was either poor or marginal, which in turn limited the car to two stars. Its score of 43 per cent for safety assistance was also weak, with EuroNCAP saying the car's seatbelt reminders "did not meet EuroNCAP's requirements".

Personally, I don't consider either of these issues to be related to vehicle safety. What I'm concerned with when I'm barreling down the highway at 65mph is whether I'll survive when someone sideswipes me, runs me into the median, rear-ends me, or a deer jumps in front of me. One might think it makes me a jerk, but I'm not so much concerned with pedestrian legs, nor a seatbelt buzzer. I'll take personal responsibility for wearing my seatbelt, thank you very much, and I wear it any time I'm on public roads, and frequently when I'm not.

(Besides, I've seen what happens when you make the buzzer that annoying. I've got a couple friends who have buckled their belts behind the seats to get the buzzer to stop annoying them.)

Removing these unreasonable European standards, it looks like the compass should be scoring 3 or 4 out of 5 stars, based on its scores on the remaining EuroNCAP tests.

__________________
He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. --Thomas Paine

We work together every damn day. --Jon Stewart

Any gas can be a knockout gas, when you wrap a steel cylinder around it and beat someone with it.

I have owned several jeep cherokees in the past, a 94 and 92 and I think the interior of my new patriot is very similar. Obvously its updated and different looking but the space and layout is very very similar.

I like to think of the patriot as an evolved jeep cherokee sacrificing the solid axles and transfercase for a more efficiant economical pavement pounder.

like i said in an earlier post, we have one, she likes it. i still think there is less room in it than in eitehr of the xj's that i previously owned and she agrees that our passat had more room than what we have in the compass.

like i said in an earlier post, we have one, she likes it. i still think there is less room in it than in eitehr of the xj's that i previously owned and she agrees that our passat had more room than what we have in the compass.

Really? I think it is better laid out then either of my old XJs... More refined and not as rugged looking that's for sure. more leg room in the back seat and a little less cargo room. But I rarely care a tone of cargo and people, and the back seats fold down nicely. I feel the two front seats are much more comfortable and better placed then on the old XJs. The old XJs did have more vertical storage in the cargo area, but they didn't have a spare tire stored under the cargo area ether... Not that my spare 35" left much room the back of my old XJ

My two cents, and a buck will get you a cup of coffee someplace but I guess I will chime in:

I can attest to the Compass and Liberty as I have owned both in the last three years. The Compass is overall a nice crossover and offers, agreed, better MPG then the Liberty. The biggest problem I had with my 2007 Compass I had was the lack of "refined interior, but I know that was redone in 2012 and a new Grand Cherokee look to the front end made it my first choice when I went to purchase new last summer. I ended up for financial reasons going with a used 2008 Liberty (my reasons in a moment.) Also I did not like the blind spots and limited cargo room as stated in previous comments but that was not a deal breaker.

The reason I chose the Liberty was because of the towing capabilities and I like to sit higher on the road. I am trying to convince the wife to buy a small camper to get her into the wood more (she is a city girl). Preference also, the Liberty has the "Jeep Look" to me more then the Compass does. The Compass, while nice, had a smaller engine and was a better highway/trip car for MPG, but in all honesty I have almost the same MPG with my Liberty (24/26 best on the highway) as the Compass (28/30). It mostly for me was a matter of preference. I liked the Compass but wanted something different. I liked the Liberty when they first were introduced in the early 2000s but I fell in love with my 2008 redesigned Liberty and I couldn't be happier.